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Mark Moran / The Citizens' Voice
Police found Charles Edmonds lying in a pool of blood at the bottom of the stairs Monday inside 330 S. Hancock St. in Wilkes-Barre.

A Wilkes-Barre man was stabbed to death Monday night in the city following an argument with another man, police said. The incident marks the city's first homicide this year.

Police responded to 330 S. Hancock St., Wilkes-Barre, a three-story apartment building, around 10 p.m. Monday and found Charles Edmonds, 27, lying unresponsive at the bottom of the steps that lead to the second floor apartment. Edmonds was bleeding profusely from an apparent stab wound to the chest.

Wilkes-Barre Fire Department medical personnel were unable to find a pulse and transported Edmonds to Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, Plains Township, where he was pronounced dead at 10:44 p.m. An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday.

Al-Tariq Peterkin, 31, of Wilkes-Barre, was arraigned Tuesday morning on an open count of criminal homicide by Magisterial District Judge Daniel O'Donnell.

According to the police affidavit:

Witnesses said Peterkin, whom they knew as "Reek," and Edmonds, aka "Vic," were involved in an argument in apartment 2 on the second floor of the building. The argument turned into a minor physical altercation that was broken up, and Peterkin returned to apartment 1 on the first floor, where he resides.

Some time passed, and witnesses said Peterkin called up to Edmonds to come downstairs. Witnesses with Edmonds said they urged him not to go.

A short while after he went to confront Peterkin, Edmonds struggled to the top of the stairs with blood on his hands and shirt.

Witnesses told police Edmonds rocked forward and blood poured from his stab wound onto the floor. He then tumbled down the stairs, where police found him lying in a pool of blood.

Diana Connor, a neighbor in the apartment building, told a reporter she heard people fighting, and it sounded like they were wrestling in apartment 2.

A while after the fight stopped, she said she heard a woman inside apartment 1 scream, "Oh my (expletive) God. You shouldn't have done that." Connor said a man responded, "He shouldn't have snuck me," meaning he was sucker punched. It became quiet until police arrived shortly after, she said.

Police found blood on the steps and wall in the staircase and a large amount of blood at the top of the stairs.

When police went to apartment 1 to find Peterkin, officers could hear people talking, but no one would open the door. Police pounded on the door, repeatedly yelling to identify themselves and checking the windows and rear door. They said they saw people in the apartment looking out the windows and moving around.

This went on for four hours until police obtained a search warrant. The Wilkes-Barre police Emergency Service Unit went to the door of the apartment and announced themselves, alerting the occupants of the warrant and advising them they had 10 seconds to open the door. After a few seconds, the door opened, and officers secured Peterkin and two females inside.

Before all three were taken to Wilkes-Barre police headquarters to be interviewed, they told police they didn't know why police and fire personnel were at the apartment. They also denied any knowledge of the earlier altercation or of a person being stabbed in the hallway outside their apartment.

When police went into Peterkin's apartment, they found a small blood stain on the carpet just inside the door. Police also found a damaged black, long-sleeved shirt on the couch in the front room. Witnesses described Peterkin as wearing a similar shirt under a blue T-shirt.

A wall in the hallway inside the apartment had a large hole in it, and police noticed the plaster bulging out from the wall. As police pulled plaster away, they found a 10-inch kitchen knife with a silver blade and black handle stuffed in the hole.

Peterkin is jailed on the non-bail offense at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility. His preliminary hearing is set for April 15 at 10 a.m. before Magisterial District Judge Rick Cronauer.

jseibel@citizensvoice.com

570-821-2110, @cvseibel

Charged in fatal stabbing

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